


star child

by iron_spider



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, no infinity war spoilers, we need something nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 23:16:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14603874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iron_spider/pseuds/iron_spider
Summary: Peter walks down the sidewalk, his phone pressed to his ear. “Coney Island?” he asks, his eyes narrowed. It’s been four months since the Vulture incident, and he’d watched the cleanup closely. The beach has been clear for a long time now, but people still go over to the landing spot and dig through the sand, taking pictures where the wreckage was. Peter hasn’t been back yet himself, but whenever someone puts up some kinda Spiderman sign over there, he inevitably receives a text from Ned about it.“Yeah,” Tony says. “Listen, kid, I don’t want Luna Park and the surrounding area to be some kind of apocalyptic hellscape to you, it’s a great place, lots of fun—”“Yeah, Yeah, I know—”“So I wanna take you,” Tony says.





	star child

Peter walks down the sidewalk, his phone pressed to his ear. “Coney Island?” he asks, his eyes narrowed. It’s been four months since the Vulture incident, and he’d watched the cleanup closely. The beach has been clear for a long time now, but people still go over to the landing spot and dig through the sand, taking pictures where the wreckage was. Peter hasn’t been back yet himself, but whenever someone puts up some kinda Spiderman sign over there, he inevitably receives a text from Ned about it.

“Yeah,” Tony says. “Listen, kid, I don’t want Luna Park and the surrounding area to be some kind of apocalyptic hellscape to you, it’s a great place, lots of fun—”

“Yeah, Yeah, I know—”

“So I wanna take you,” Tony says. “What’s the homework situation look like?”

Peter’s brain is misfiring. He was planning on patrolling—he’s got the suit in his backpack—but he can’t tell when Tony is talking about, if he means now, later, next year—this was not a phone call Peter was expecting. He must be talking about now if he’s asking about homework. Or maybe they’re separate subjects? Peter doesn’t know, gripped in a panic that makes him sweat and think too much. “Uh, it’s Friday, so—”

“Ah, procrastinating til Sunday—”

“No, no, I’m all caught up,” Peter says. “Since May found out she’s been, uh—really on top of everything and getting my homework done a few days early is always, uh—smart, the smart move—for me.”

“Alright, alright, sounds good, that’s what she decided on,” Tony says, and he sounds impressed. “So how do you feel, you free? I can come snag you and we’ll head over.”

“Right now?”

“You busy?”

“No, I’m just—walking, I’m not doing anything,” Peter says.

“You wanna go?”

Peter blinks a couple times. He thinks about his younger self seeing this moment. Tony Stark—Iron Man—wants to take him to a theme park. The sun feels like it’s beating down hard on his scalp. He’s definitely not scared of Coney Island, and it’s actually really nice that Tony is worried about something like that being ruined for him.

“Yeah, I wanna—of course I wanna go,” Peter laughs.

“Okay, stop walking.”

Peter does. His eyes dart around and he turns, watches as one of Tony’s red Audis speeds around the corner. It stops when it’s directly alongside Peter and he bends down as the back window slides open. Tony is sitting there, beaming at him, and they both still have their phones pressed to their ears. 

“Were you following me?” Peter asks.

Tony hangs up, and Peter follows suit. “I was in the neighborhood. Well, Happy was in the neighborhood, I was just along for the ride.”

Happy grunts from the front seat. “Hey kid.”

“Hey, Happy,” Peter says.

“Get on in, Pete, we’re burnin’ daylight,” Tony says.

~

Tony Stark turns heads. So people are looking at Peter too. He’s half nervous, half out of his mind with excitement, and for once, it makes him quiet.

“Want something from the candy store?” Tony asks, as they walk along the sidewalk. “I once ate three buckets of cotton candy from this place—not a good choice, one of my many regrets.”

“No, I’m okay,” Peter says, looking at the sprinkles and multi-colored candy trees in the window. “I might want a hot dog though.”

“That we can do,” Tony says. “They always let me hop the line—I pay for the next couple bills so people aren’t too mad.”

Peter grins at him. They turn left and walk by a couple bars, small food carts, tents covered in different flags. His heart nearly stops when he sees one of them is a Spiderman flag, his emblem emblazoned in silky red and black.

“Hey, now look at that,” Tony says. He walks up to it, tugging on the corner a little bit. “I really should think about trademarking this logo for you,” he says, winking at Peter. 

“Probably wouldn’t make a ton on that investment,” Peter says.

Tony scoffs at him. “Think you’re a little behind on the superhero favorites list. I thought you kept up with that kinda thing.”

Peter narrows his eyes. “Uh…”

“Look it up later,” Tony says, motioning him over with his chin. Peter moves slowly, unsure what he wants, so Tony takes him by the shoulders and turns him a little bit as he holds out his phone. “Selfie it up,” Tony says.

“Oh,” Peter laughs, watching as Tony positons the Spiderman logo between them. “That’s good, that’s good.”

“Okay, big cheese.”

Peter grins, waves of happiness running through him, and Tony snaps the picture. “Hey, can you send that to me?”

“Already on its way.”

~

“The swinging carts are a lot more exciting,” Tony says, as they climb into their red cart, the attendant shutting the door. They sit side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and Tony claps him on the back. “But you know plenty about swinging, don’t you?”

“It’s been a really long time since I’ve been on a Ferris wheel,” Peter says. “Ned and I went on one a couple years ago when that Carnival came through but he kept shaking it at the top so they kept us up there for…a lot longer than I expected.”

“Don’t even try any of that,” Tony says, shaking his head. 

The cart jars as they start moving, and Peter’s eyes widen. 

“Whoa, you weren’t kidding about the swinging,” he says, as they swing back and forth. 

“You just wait,” Tony says, a mischievous grin on his face. 

“How many times have you been on this thing?” Peter asks, as they get higher in the air.

“A good lot,” Tony says. “I brought Pepper here last year and she smacked me on the face by accident when she realized we were in a moving cart—well, she says it was an accident. I tend to believe there was some intent in it.”

“How much moving are we—” and just as he’s asking, the cart goes shooting forward at a pace way faster than he was expecting. Peter yells, clinging to the fencing with one hand and Tony’s shoulder with the other.

Tony throws his head back, laughing hysterically.

“You didn’t tell her about that?” Peter asks, breathless, as they’re continually hurled back and forth, the cart squealing. 

“Nah, and your scream was almost as good,” Tony says, still laughing.

Peter shakes his head. “That was crazy,” he says, gripping his chest.

“You okay, kid?”

“Of course I’m okay,” Peter huffs. “Just caught me by surprise—this thing is ancient, it could probably collapse any second—”

“Nah, the Wonder Wheel is a national treasure,” Tony says. “Now get ready, we’re about to go flying again—”

“Great, great, at least you warned me this time—”

“Now I’m gonna film your reaction, try to knock the high pitched scream up a couple notches—”

Peter snorts, covering his mouth, and Tony is laughing at him again. “Mr. Stark, I swear to God—”

“Future Stark interns,” Tony says, his phone in front of his face when Peter whips his head around to look at him. “This is what you’re in for—”

They’re near the top now and the cart is swinging dangerously, back and forth until it shoots forward. Peter watches everything come speeding at him and he yells, and Tony yells too, and then they both drop into hysterics.

“I told them to let us go around a half dozen times, so everybody’s gonna be real happy when we get off.”

“Great,” Peter says, shaking his head. His cheeks hurt from smiling.

~

They take pictures in the photo booth, use the laser frames and get closer and closer to the camera until the last shot is just their eyes. They go on the Steeplechase ride and Tony talks about the time he was on a runaway horse—he tells this story while they’re _on_ the ride, which is ridiculous and hilarious and Peter misses half the details but he tries hard to listen, anyway. 

They approach the Zoltar machine.

“This is like from that old movie Big,” Peter says. 

“That thing always gives me the creeps,” Tony says. “You want a fortune?”

“What’s he gonna say?” Peter asks. “Something weird?”

“Probably,” Tony says, already feeding the machine a dollar.

It comes to life with a harp sound, the lights on either side of its head turning red. Peter watches, wary. Tony squares up beside him, like he’s ready to punch Zoltar in the face if it says anything too weird.

“ _Cheer up, my friend, and listen to the proverb of Zoltar. A smile is worth a million frowns in any market, and thankfully, Zoltar sees much happiness in your future—_ ”

“Oh, good,” Tony says. “Now we know.”

“ _—go now, but come back, because Zoltar always has advice for future endeavors, if you bring a gift to Zoltar._ ”

“I should refer to myself in third person all the time like that,” Peter says.

“We wouldn’t be friends.”

“Peter wants a hot dog.”

“Peter is gonna be abandoned in the Wonder Wheel.”

“Peter could use some gelato, too.”

“ _Tony_ is leaving.”

Peter laughs, watching as Tony turns, clearly bluffing, and walks right back again. Peter’s fortune card pops out of the machine and he grabs it, tearing it out. He hears a few girls murmuring about Tony a couple steps away, but he’s suddenly too engrossed in his card to see what they look like.

**“What a joy to look ahead, to read into the signs of your future. So much happiness is in store for you that the most brilliantly lighted stars will be put to shame by the brightness of your life.**

**No, this is not caused by sheer good luck. It is your perseverance, your kind heart, and the people you surround yourself with that will make this come to pass. This road is paved in battle—in losses, in impossibilities. You will rise from the ashes and become more than you ever thought you would be. When opportunity comes, grab it--don't let it slip through your fingers. And then happiness is yours. The light will come flooding in.”**

“For something so positive, it sounds strangely ominous,” Tony says, peering over Peter’s shoulder.

“Yeah…” Peter says, stuffing it into his pocket.

~

“Rhodey said he almost died on the Cyclone.”

“Rhodey is dramatic. Don’t you like roller coasters?”

“Love ‘em,” Peter says. He more loves the idea of them. He’s ridden a couple babyish ones, small, nothing too crazy. Nothing like this. But again, he’s Spiderman. He knocks down the nerves and amps up the excitement. People are shrieking as they go racing by above Peter’s head and he gapes up at them, smiling to himself. He sat on the top of this thing after everything went down, but he definitely wasn’t thinking about the ride, then. Just everything else.

“No roller coaster is as good as this,” Tony says, quickly buying tickets and handing one to Peter. “No matter how big and bad they think they are, there’s only one Cyclone.”

“Ten dollars per ticket?” Peter asks, glaring up at the sign as they walk past it and into the line.

“That’s how good it is,” Tony says, looking back at him. “We can do it a couple more times if you want to, they also have t-shirts, ride photos—”

“Definitely want the picture,” Peter says, fast. His face colors a little bit. “You know, for like…my records.”

“Right, of course,” Tony says, chuckling a little bit at him. “I’m sure Peter Parker has a vast and unwieldly set of records that would put mine to shame.”

“Yes,” Peter says, holding his chin high. “Peter Parker _does_.”

They get up to the loading area and there are only a couple other groups waiting to board, so Tony taps Peter on the shoulder. “Let’s split up into one and one, it’s way cooler that way. You go in front of me.”

“We’re allowed to go on them alone?” Peter asks, as Tony ushers him forward a little bit.

“Allowed?” Tony scoffs. “Even if it wasn’t me, yes, we’re allowed. You scared?”

“No, no,” Peter insists. And he’s totally not. 

“You sure?” Tony asks, raising his eyebrows. And Peter can tell then that he’s not mocking. He’s actually asking. 

“Definitely not,” Peter says. He’s hung onto the back of a plane. He’s scaled buildings way taller than this—he tries to read Tony’s expression. Tony knows what he’s capable of, what he’s been doing, what he’s done. There’s been a softness and concern in his eyes since the whole Vulture thing and Peter can’t really put his finger on what’s changed. He sees him a lot more than he did before, a lot a lot—he gets rides home from school almost every other day, he and May meet Tony for dinner almost every weekend, at places that May gaped at behind Tony’s back. Tony also invites them to stay at the compound whenever they want—he and May have been a lot closer since the whole May-finding-out-about-Spiderman thing—the two of them making plans and May essentially yelling at Tony to keep Peter safe and out of trouble. 

All of this feels like a far-cry from all the unanswered phone calls Peter had to contend with before.

He likes it way more.

The carts come rolling in and Tony claps Peter on the shoulder—he quickly learns he’s in the first cart, and he laughs nervously. The dazed looking previous occupants get up and out and they load in—Peter sits down and an attendant comes by and pushes his lap bar down, so he’s got a little room to move around. 

Tony leans forward and shakes Peter’s shoulders, laughing.

Peter scoffs, and speaks before he even really thinks about it. “If I die on this thing, Mr. Stark—”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a suit on standby,” Tony says, leaning back again. “And maybe you’ve got a little something up your sleeve?”

Peter smiles to himself. “Maybe…”

“Just keep your phone in your pocket, I don’t think we’d be able to save it if it went flying—”

“I need a new phone anyway—”

“Peter—”

“Kidding,” Peter laughs, twisting around to grin at him.

Tony narrows his eyes. “I’ll get you a new phone.”

Peter shakes his head, still trying to look at him. “No, you don’t have to—”

The cart shoots forward then, making its way around the corner. Peter quickly turns back around and faces front, the phone discussion tabled for now. There are some people to their left behind a fence and they wave, a few of them exclaiming _TONY STARK!_ when they catch sight of him.

“Tony’s day out,” Peter hears him say. “World not actively in need of saving at the moment—just a nice day out at the park—”

They start up on an incline, getting higher and higher, and Peter really didn’t expect it to go this fast. They rapidly approach an archway that says REMAIN SEATED with two American flags flapping in the wind on either side of it. They roll up and under it, and then Peter can see the first drop, his heart booming in his ears.

“Oh shit, Tony—!”

“Put your hands up, kid—”

He does, shooting them into the air like he has two very important questions, and then they hurdle down—his eyes tear and he screams and yelps, whipped around in the seat as the cart makes a quick turn, roaring around the corner. They dip down again and they go back up, and Peter closes his eyes. He flies all around in the seat but the lap bar keeps him in, and he laughs and laughs, listening to Tony do the same behind him. He relaxes his whole face and for a moment it feels like he’s flying through the air, no webshooters to keep him going—

“Whoa!” he yelps, when they drop down again, fast, and he grabs onto the lap bar.

“Okay, kid?” Tony yells, over the whipping of the wind.

“Yeah!” Peter yells, laughing again as they keep bumping and swooping around. “Yeah, yeah, I’m amazing!”

~

Tony buys two copies of the ride photo and Peter laughs for what feels like forever at the look on Tony’s face—his eyes wide and his sunglasses gripped tight in his fist. Peter himself looks serene, like he’s having the damn time of his life. He can’t wait to frame it. 

Peter watches as Tony puts down what has to be at least a thousand dollars at Nathan’s, for everybody in the line behind them. People whoop and holler and other kids eye Peter with clear jealousy in their expressions, whispering to their friends. He smiles to himself, something warm and happy settling in his chest as he follows Tony away from the crowd. 

They make their way to the beach. When he crashed here with Toomes it was way further down, and he still pats himself on the back for managing to avoid completely destroying Luna Park and all the rides inside it. Tony doesn’t go down that far—he heads in the opposite direction, towards the pier, and they sit down in the sand and prop their boxes of food on their laps. 

Peter went a little overboard—two hot dogs with relish and sour kraut, a big soda, bacon ranch fries and a cookie. He feels like his body is definitely gonna be mad at him later for this meal, but for now he just enjoys it. 

“But what did the giant baby mean?” Tony asks, throwing out one hand.

“Star child.”

“You’re a star child.”

Peter snorts. “It’s not—it’s called a star child, it’s Dave after he’s dead, after the aliens have been observing him in that weird Victorian room—he’s made into star child and sent back to observe Earth because now he’s an advanced being.”

“I hate it,” Tony declares, staring off at the water. “I’ve never been so frustrated at a movie before—I threw my empty popcorn bucket—I was in this theater with a whole bunch of nerds like you, they rerelease that thing like every ten years so they’d all seen it already and I’d been avoiding it my whole teenage existence, I finally gave in and _that’s_ what I got.”

“It’s pretty good,” Peter says, eating another fry. “Not my favorite sci-fi standalone—”

“Blade Runner—”

“Yup—”

“Good kid.”

Peter beams at him. He sinks his feet further into the sand—the sun is getting ready to set, but there are still so many people here. He looks up at Tony. “Mr. Stark, uh—why’d you do all this?” he asks. “I mean, it was amazing, this is probably up there with the best hot dogs I’ve ever had—”

Tony smiles, looks proud.

“—but, uh—I mean, you didn’t have to do this. Take me here.”

Tony pulls his sunglasses up onto his head. “I wanted to, Pete. You’re always so on top of keeping everybody safe, spider duties, you’re ready whenever I need you for something official and I just—well, I just wanted to let you be a kid. In a way that had nothing to do with school. And I like this place, so…good for me, too.”

The warmth in Peter’s chest only gets warmer, and he chews on his lower lip to keep from smiling too hard. “Did May know you were gonna do this?”

“Yes sir,” Tony says. “Spoke to her this morning. Got all the work updates and the newest soap opera news. She’s also got a new place she wants me to try so you’ll probably see me again this weekend. I think we’re starting to wage restaurant wars, which is fine. I’ve got a lot of good ideas. Pepper will hopefully remain my backup, unless May pulls her to her side.”

Peter laughs. He doesn’t say that he’s already looking forward to it. He nods to himself, then looks up and meets Tony’s eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

“Hey, no problem, kid,” Tony says. “Trial run for Disney World.”

Peter laughs again, hanging his head down. Then his heart falters and he looks up. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” Tony says, drawing out the word like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Bring May this time, Pepper, your pal Fred, that girl you’re scared of—might even grab Happy. Happy in the happiest place on earth. It’s really a sight to see.”

Peter stares at him, his mouth opening and closing in thoughts that won’t meet the air. 

Tony snorts, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder. “Eat your fries, we still gotta get in gelato and one more Cyclone round before we’re out of here.”

“We’re gonna go back on the Cyclone after all this food?” Peter exclaims. 

“You don’t throw up on your Coney Island visit, the trip is not complete.” Tony takes a long sip of his shake and raises his eyebrows. 

“Oh my God.”

Tony splutters and starts laughing, putting his sunglasses back on.

Peter can’t tell if he’s being serious. But he’s happier than he’s been in a long time. He thinks about himself when he was little again, all those crayon drawings of Iron Man on his walls. He never, ever thought he would be here.

But he’s so grateful that he is.


End file.
